Woochi. 2009. South Korea. Written and directed by Choi Dong-hoon. Pictured: Lim Su-jeong.

NEW YORK, NY.- Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today, a series of new Korean films presented by MoMA and the Korea Society will be shown September 22 through 30, 2010 at the Museum of Modern Art. Among the eight films, many of which New York premieres, is The Housemaid (2010), Im Sang-soo‟s erotic thriller about a domestic helper's revenge after her affair with the master goes sour. A favorite at Cannes, The Housemaid, which was recently acquired by IFC Films and is slated for release early next year, will premiere at MoMA on September 22, directly following it‟s screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. Im Sang-soo will introduce the film. Other highlights include Boo Si-Young‟s Sisters on the Road (2008), her first film, which follows two estranged half-sisters who develop a relationship while searching for their father; and Land of Scarecrows (2008), by Roh Gyeon-tae, one of Korea‟s most experimental‟ filmmakers, which examines national and gender identity.

Yeonghwa is the Korean word for film. Featured in every major international film festival, Korean cinema has become a thriving industry. The technical excellence, the wide variety of styles and subjects, the idiosyncrasies of individual expression within the perimeters of genre, the general practice of filmmakers both writing and directing their work, the development of a consistent home-grown star‟ system for both actors and filmmakers, and its free-wheeling entrepreneurial spirit have helped to distinguish Korean film as a truly unique cinematic form.

Korean cinema, shot in a language barely understood outside the country of its origin, is an art and industry generally made for a national audience. Therefore the integrity of the artistic vision is, for the most part, unaffected by the demands of a global film market, providing a revealing window into a culture that for many Americans has seemed inaccessible. Yeonghwa: Korean Film Today is co-organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, The Museum of Modern Art, and Yuni Yoonjung Cho, Director, Film, The Korea Society, with the help of the Korean Film Council.